INSECT TROGLODYTES. 189 



seem ambitious to reach the highest point, and jostle 

 and crowd one another in their efforts to be at the top 

 of the heap. This the mother patiently endures for a 

 time, but when the younglings thicken too closely over 

 her eyes she reaches up her forelegs, scrapes ofl' an arm- 

 ful and holds them straight in front of her as if discip- 

 lining them by reproving looks, Sooij she releases 

 them by slowly opening her legs, whereupon the spider- 

 lings quietly take their places around the edge of the 

 tower, where they usually remain until the mother goes 

 below, when they all follow. Upon her reappearance 

 they are again mounted upon her back." 



" How do the little fellows keep their position so 

 firmly ?" asked the Doctor. 



"The body of the mother is covered with soft hairs 

 to which her babies hold by their feet, or fasten them- 

 selves by delicate threads spun from their spinnarets. 

 When they are two weeks old they " molt " or cast their 

 skin, a process which spiders undergo several times un- 

 til they are quite mature. The molting of the young 

 turret spiders is a curious sight. They stretch a line 

 across the back of the mother's abdomen to which they 

 fasten themselves. Then they begin to undress. The 

 skin cracks all around the chest — the cepholotorax — 

 which is held by the front edge alone ; next the abdo- 

 men is freed, and then comes the struggle to free the 

 legs. By dint of regular pullings, repeated at short 

 intervals, the old skin is cast in fifteen minutes or more, 

 and the spiderling appears undressed but quite ex- 

 hausted. It lies limp, pallid and motionless for a little 



